From the inside out

But what about the host?
Actress Ann Marie Howard was hired to read a script—a script which said, she had used Moisturol.

The only problem? That’s not what she told us the very same day on the set.

(Hidden camera) Dateline as Johnston products employee:  Have you tried the product? Did they give it to you?

Ann Marie Howard: No I have not tried it.

Dateline: ‘cause I could get you some

Howard: Yeah I would love to try it. I would.

We asked for an on-camera interview with Ann Marie Howard to ask her, among other things, how viewers are supposed to know the difference between people who have really tried the product and actresses who read a script. She declined, pointing to what she called our story’s “negative angle.”

Next, it was time to go to the doctor.

We told Doctor Margaret Olsen we wished to ask her about skin care products she had endorsed.

Dr. Margaret Olsen: I endorse products that I have used, and I don’t have a problem with.

Dr Olsen told us repeatedly that she only endorses products she uses, and that she had in fact used Moisturol.

John Larson, Dateline correspondent: Did you have it tested?

Dr. Olsen: No I just tried it on me.

Larson: You did?

Dr. Olsen: Yeah and I didn’t have a problem.

So she claimed she’d actually used the product. Next, we asked her if she had seen any proof, any clinical trials for Moisturol. Of course we knew there were no clinical trials.

Dr. Olsen: I’m sure everything has clinical trials. The question is how extensive are the clinical trials.

She couldn’t remember, but claimed, she had seen clinical trials for Moisturol.

Dr. Olsen: There were clinical trials and they were showing that it helped? Supposedly it made a difference.

It was time to tell the doctor our secret. And we didn’t anticipate her reaction.

Larson: Moisturol is Nestle Quik.

Dr. Olsen: Love it. It’s great.

Larson: Love it?

Dr. Olsen: Well, I love the fact that it’s as simple as doing something like that. The unfortunate thing is somebody’s going to have to spend a fortune on getting a product that they could get simply.

Did the doctor fully understand what we were saying?

Larson: You appeared in an infomercial basically saying that they had a revolutionary new product that would fix your wrinkles from the inside out.

Dr. Olsen:  Trying to improve your skin, trying to improve your whole body, yeah.

Larson: It’s chocolate powdered milk! I mean this stuff can’t help fix your skin from the inside out.

Dr. Olsen:  If it helps fix your body from the inside out, remember, it talks..doing..strong bones? But you’re absolutely right. Fixing wrinkles is, talk about an overstatement by a billion percent. You’re absolutely right.

This from the same doctor who’d endorsed the product as a “clever supplement”  that “may be helpful for your skin.” Claims made without any clinical studies or scientific proof.

Larson: Are you curious how we know all this?

Dr. Olsen: Yes.

Larson: The company that developed Moisturol was NBC News.

Dr. Olsen: Oh I love it. That’s wonderful. That’s great.  Thrilling. I mean, that’s fun.

But the doctor’s smile was about to vanish. Remember, Dr. Olsen told us she only endorses products she uses, and she had used Moisturol herself. So we played for her a clip we obtained that did not make the infomercial’s final version; taped when the cameras were rolling backstage.

Dateline (undercover, on hidden camera): Did you get to try it by any chance, I left you a bottle. Did you try it?

Dr. Olsen: No. Not only did I not try it. I didn’t even see it!

(On interview with John Larson)

Dr. Olsen: I don’t even know if it’s a capsule or a pill.  I tried it when I got home.

Larson: But you didn’t try it before you endorsed it?

Dr. Olsen: No. But I read the label.

After our interview, an attorney representing the doctor said she was tricked because the ingredients on the Moisturol bottle were not listed in the same order of concentration as they exist in Nestle Quik. The attorney claimed ingestible skin care products are booming, and that studies show chocolate is indeed good for the skin. While experts tell us there’s some scientific truth to those claims, there are no studies that suggest consuming chocolate in a pill can moisturize the skin. And remember, Doctor Olsen told us on tape that she hadn’t even seen the product.

Larson: Obviously there’s a big problem here.

Dr. Olsen: It’s very embarrassing. Absolutely.

Dr. Olsen told us that she got involved with Moisturol as a favor to someone she knew from the infomercial company. She said her husband warned her about taking part, but regrettably, she didn’t listen.

Larson: How could a woman this smart, without any clinical trials, without having tried it herself, without any proof that something like this works, be willing to go on television and help sell a product to maybe millions of people?

Dr. Olsen: I don’t know. I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.

In the doctor’s defense, after reviewing the entire tape of her interview with the company, we did see that she had, at first, tried to be careful.

Dr.  Olsen: This is a very innovative way to do it and very practical that may in fact actually work.

Notice the doctor said it may work, not that it did work. But watch this, as a producer for the company off camera tried to push her to go further.

Infomercial producer (on hidden camera during the taping): You tell me if I can get away with this. I know where... you’re hedging your bet a little bit.

Dr. Olsen: Darn right! We had that conversation already.

And we had noticed something else. During the taping of her endorsement, the doctor had frequently hedged, saying Moisturol is going to “try to help.”

Dr. Olsen (in the infomercial): Its going to try to help get rid of lines and wrinkles.

..try to help, not that it did.

But in the infomercial, “try to” had been taken out by the company’s producers; the edit, covered up.

Dr. Olsen (from the infomercial finished product): Moisturol is one of the new products that is going to help get rid of lines and wrinkles from the inside out.

Nonetheless, the doctor did endorse the product without scientific proof making no fewer than eight statements extolling the virtues of Moisturol or its ingredients for money, though she now says she never received her payment from the infomercial maker.

Of course, Dateline was never going sell Moisturol and rip off Americans. But we were about to find out whether anyone would have stopped us.

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